City certainly not taking Swansea lightly

MANCHESTER City will continue their assault on all four trophies when they play at Swansea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup this weekend.

With the League Cup already in the bag, top of the Premier League table and into the last eight of the Champions League, City are riding high on all fronts.

Having put seven goals past Schalke in midweek, they are also scoring goals for fun and they will be widely expected to get the better of Swansea.

City manager Pep Guardiola is expected to name another strong side in a competition he has yet to win, but some players will also be rested.

City suffered a shock defeat last season to Wigan and Jay Fulton, who was on loan to the Lancashire side, is now back at Swansea.

Fulton knows Swansea will need something close to a miracle but believes it can be done.

“If they are on their game it will be very difficult for us, but it’s up to us to try to get them off their game,” Fulton said. “You have to have that respect – Manchester City are one of the best teams in the world.

“Our concentration levels are going to need to be through the roof because any one of their players could play that key pass or score a goal out of nothing. We are also going to need to run – a lot.”

Manchester United travel to Wolves fresh from a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal that dented their top-four challenge in the league.

Caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have to rotate his defence, with captain Ashley Young missing out through suspension.

Juan Mata is close to recovery from injury but forward Alexis Sanchez is likely to miss out after suffering an injury.

Wolves beat Liverpool on their way to the quarter-finals and played well in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the league last time out.

But manager Nuno Espirito Santo says his players must focus only on the match and not think too far ahead, even though Wembley is within touching distance.

“We’ll prepare ourselves for the competition,” he said, after the draw with Chelsea.

“It’s about preparing to compete, not thinking about anything else.”

But goalkeeper John Ruddy admits the players are excited at what might be possible.

“As a senior English player, the FA Cup still has that fairytale feeling about it,” Ruddy said.

“No matter what people may say about the competition, to be able to say you’ve been to a final or a semi-final at Wembley is what you aim for.”

Watford take on Crystal Palace and Championship side Millwall host Brighton in the other quarterfinal fixtures.

| dpa